how to print presentation with notes powerpoint

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How to print a PowerPoint presentation with notes

PowerPoint makes it easy to give a great presentation thanks to intuitive software that lets anyone craft an eye-catching deck. What's even better, however, is the option to use Presenter View. This lets you leave notes for yourself that can be viewed on your computer screen while everyone else is only seeing your presentation.

Print PowerPoint slides with notes on Windows

Print powerpoint slides with notes on mac, print powerpoint slides with notes on the web, what you need.

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However, if you're worried about a technical hiccup taking down your slide or don’t want to be glued to the computer, you'll probably want to print out your PowerPoint presentation with notes. This lets you see both your slides and your presenter notes, giving you an analog way to carry on the presentation without the need for a monitor.

Interested in the feature? Here's how to print a PowerPoint presentation with notes on Windows, Mac, or directly from the web.

Printing your presentation in PowerPoint on Windows takes only a few steps. If you want notes with your slides, it’s a simple setting.

Step 1: Open PowerPoint to the presentation you want to print.

Step 2: Select the File tab.

Step 3: Choose Print and select your printer in the Printer drop-down if necessary.

Step 4: In the first drop-down box below Settings , pick which slides you want to print. You can print them all, the current slide, or a custom range.

Step 5: Click the next drop-down box for Print layout and select Notes page . You’ll see a preview on the right.

Step 6: Adjust any other settings you’d like before printing, such as switching Portrait orientation to Landscape orientation or Color to Grayscale .

Step 7: Click Print .

If you use Microsoft PowerPoint on Mac, you can print your slides with notes a just a few steps, like on Windows.

Step 1: Open PowerPoint on your Mac to the presentation you’d like to print.

Step 2: Click File > Print from the menu bar.

Step 3: In the pop-up window, choose your printer in the Printer drop-down box at the top if necessary.

Step 4: Choose which slides you’d like to print. You can print all slides, specific numbers, selected slides, or a custom range.

Step 5: Click the Layout drop-down box and choose Notes . You’ll see a preview on the left.

Step 6: Optionally, adjust any other settings you’d like such as Orientation , Output , or Scale .

Maybe you’re using PowerPoint on the web and prefer to print from there.

Step 1: Visit PowerPoint on the web , sign in, and open your presentation.

Step 3: Choose Print and pick Print notes pages .

Step 4: In the small pop-up window, select Open PDF to view your presentation file.

Step 5: Depending on your web browser, click the Print button or download the file to print on your computer.

For additional PowerPoint features , check out Microsoft’s implementation of real-time closed captioning .

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Home Blog PowerPoint Tutorials How to Print PowerPoint Slides with Notes

How to Print PowerPoint Slides with Notes

Before finalizing your presentation, you might be interested in printing and reviewing your slides and notes. In a previous post, we showed you how to add speaker notes in PowerPoint and export them to Word. This time, we will show you how to print speaker notes in PowerPoint.

How to Print PowerPoint with Notes on a PC

To print PowerPoint with speaker notes on Windows for your PowerPoint templates , go to File -> Print and select the slides you want to print from the first drop-down menu under Settings . This can include all slides, the current slide, or a custom slide range.

If you want to learn how to add speaker notes in PowerPoint , we recommend our guide with video tutorials and simple examples.

Print Slides and Notes

Once you get to the printer options, go to Settings, open the menu that says Full Page Slides and select Notes Pages .

Before printing your slides and notes, you can also choose to print them in Grayscale or Color (depending on your printer type and preferences). Other options in the Settings section will allow you to choose the slides, the slide numbers, the slide order (Collated or Uncollated) to print and the slide orientation (Portrait or Landscape).

You will get a print preview to see how your printed notes appear. Adjust any further settings from the Print menu, including selecting your required printer or adjusting the orientation to portrait or landscape, paper quality, or other printer properties, and click Print to print your notes with slide thumbnails.

How to Print PowerPoint with Notes on Mac

Printing notes in PowerPoint for Mac is similar to the PC version. To print PowerPoint notes on Mac, go to File -> Print and select the slides to print.

Select Notes from the Layout dropdown menu. 

You will see a print preview on the left. Adjust your printer settings according to need and click Print to print your slides and notes.

How to Print PowerPoint with Notes using PowerPoint for the Web

Printing PowerPoint with notes is slightly different when using PowerPoint for the web (also known as PowerPoint Online). If you have been wondering how to print notes in PPT using PowerPoint for the web, follow the steps below.

To print your notes, open your presentation with PowerPoint for the web and go to File -> Print . 

In the next step, select Print Notes Pages .

A pop-up will appear, asking you to open the file in PDF for printing. Click Open PDF to proceed further.

You can print slides with notes on PowerPoint for the web once the PDF file is loaded. Unlike PowerPoint for PC or Mac, PowerPoint for the web first converts your slides with notes to the Portable Document Format (PDF) before making them available for printing. Adjust your printer settings according to need and click Print to print your notes.

Printing Slides and Notes with Formatting

Sometimes, mere text isn’t enough. This is why one needs to add images and notes with custom formatting. You can do this by going to View (tab) –> Notes Master .

While you can add formatting to your notes via View (tab) –> Notes Page , however, to add ‘art’ (e.g. shapes or a company logo), you will require switching to Notes Master .

Once in the Notes Master , you can stylize your content, as well as add images, shapes, symbols, background styles, etc.

Once you have formatted your notes using Notes Page or Notes Master , go to File –> Print –> Settings  and select Notes Pages , followed by Print to print your slides with stylized speaker notes.

To print PowerPoint slides with notes on a Windows PC, go to File -> Print, then select the slides you want to print from the drop-down menu under Settings. Next, open the menu that says Full Page Slides and select Notes Pages. Adjust any further settings, such as orientation and printer properties, and click Print.

Yes, you can print PowerPoint slides with notes on a Mac. Go to File -> Print, select the slides to print, and choose Notes from the Layout dropdown menu. Adjust your printer settings as needed and click Print.

To print slides with notes using PowerPoint for the Web, open your presentation in PowerPoint for the Web, go to File -> Print, and select Print Notes Pages. A pop-up will appear, asking you to open the file in PDF for printing. Click Open PDF, adjust your printer settings, and then click Print.

Yes, you can print slides with notes and custom formatting. Go to View -> Notes Master to add images, shapes, symbols, background styles, etc. Once formatted, go to File -> Print, select Notes Pages under Settings, and click Print.

To ensure your content is properly formatted, add and stylize your content using the Notes Page or Notes Master options under the View tab. Then, go to File -> Print and select Notes Pages under Settings before printing.

In the Print menu, select the Settings section and choose the option to print in Grayscale before clicking Print. This can help save ink and make your printouts more economical.

Yes, you can print specific slides with notes. In the Print menu under Settings, select the specific slides or a custom range of slides you want to print before choosing Notes Pages and clicking Print.

Yes, the print preview will show how your notes appear. Before finalizing the print, you can adjust settings and see how your notes will look.

To add speaker notes in PowerPoint, type your notes in the Notes section at the bottom of the slide workspace. For more detailed instructions, refer to our guide with video tutorials and examples.

If your notes aren’t printing correctly, check your printer settings and ensure you have selected Notes Pages under the Print Layout options. Adjust the scale and layout settings or consult your printer’s manual for troubleshooting tips.

Final Words

By printing speaker notes, you can better assess your slide decks for preparing ahead for the presentation day. You can print PowerPoint slides with notes using the Print menu in PowerPoint. However, unlike PowerPoint for PC or PowerPoint for Mac, using PowerPoint for the web for printing notes requires exporting them to PDF format. However, the capability to print notes with slides is the same for the web version of PowerPoint.

For demonstrative purposes, we used the Creative 3D Box Diagram Template for PowerPoint for this post. If you want to download high-quality PowerPoint Templates with customizable slide objects, see our gallery for Premium PowerPoint Templates and refer to plans and pricing details for our catalogue of 7000+ PowerPoint Templates.

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How to print PowerPoint notes

Crafting an impactful PowerPoint slideshow and delivering a captivating presentation are distinct skills. The first focuses on designing appealing visuals to convey a clear message, while the second involves employing effective presentation techniques to ensure the audience grasps the idea. 

The content of this article will help you with the latter part of this process, guiding future presenters on  how to print PowerPoint with speaker notes to enhance your presentations success and effectiveness .

What are notes in PowerPoint?

How to print powerpoint with speaker notes.

The information included in the notes section of a PowerPoint is meant for the presenter's eyes only. While the slides themselves display all the visuals and text required to build a compelling visual experience for the audience, notes often contain crucial details the presenter should keep in mind during their talk.

In PowerPoint, you’ll find the notes section right beneath each slide. Just click on “Notes” along the taskbar at the bottom of the PowerPoint window to get started.  This article provides you a step-by-step guide to learn how to add speaker notes in PowerPoint.

During presentations, some may prefer to use Speaker Notes so they can see their notes on a second screen. However, if you’re more comfortable holding your notes or if a second screen isn't available, printing your notes is a fantastic alternative.

Printing your PowerPoint slides along with the speaker notes attached to each is straightforward, though the steps can vary slightly whether you're using Windows, Mac, or Word. Let’s explore each one of these processes.

How to print slides with notes on Windows

Printing slides with notes on Windows involve a few simple steps:

• Open the presentation with your speaker notes.
• Go to “File” in the top left corner.
• Choose “Print” from the sidebar menu.
• Specify the number of copies in the “Copies” field.
• Select the printer you want to use in the “Printer” field.
• For extra printing settings, click on “Printer Properties”.
• Underneath “Settings”, select “Full Page Slides” to open the dropdown menu.
• Choose“Notes Pages”.
• Hit “Print” to start printing your slides with notes.

How to print a PowerPoint with notes on Mac

Printing notes from your Apple device is not rocket science. Here’s how to print PowerPoint with lines notes on Mac:

• Open your presentation with speaker notes.
• Click “File” in the top left corner.
• Select“Print”.
• Choose your printer under “Printer”.
• Go to “Show Details” at the bottom of the Print window.
• From the “Layout” menu, select “Notes”.
• Finally, click “Print” to obtain your PowerPoint slides with notes.

How to print a PowerPoint using Word

If you want to print notes in PowerPoint by using Word, here’s how to do it if you’re working on a PC:

• Open your PowerPoint presentation that includes your speaker notes.
• Go to “File”.
• Choose “Export”.
• From the Export panel, select “Create Handouts”.
• A “Send to Microsoft Word” dialog box will pop up. Here, you can pick either “Notes Next to Slides” or “Notes Below Slides”.
• Click the “Paste” option from the same dialog box.
• Click “OK”.
• Word will automatically open the document for you. Once open, go to “File”.
• Select “Print”.
• Adjust the printing settings as needed.
• Finally, hit “Print” to get your document with notes ready.

Everyone has their unique style when it comes to giving presentations. Having your speaker notes printed out is an awesome technique to keep track of the key messages you’d like to convey. You can even hand out to your audience these prints afterward so they can get further insight on your topic.

No matter which operating system you’re using, printing PowerPoint speaker notes is a pretty straightforward process. The important thing is to continually seek out new methods to elevate your presentation skills and find more dynamic and engaging ways to communicate with your audience.

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How to Print a PowerPoint Presentation with Notes

Print PowerPoint Presentations with Speaker Notes

by Avantix Learning Team | Updated May 30, 2022

Applies to: Microsoft ®  PowerPoint ® 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021 and 365 (Windows)

You can print PowerPoint presentations with notes with or without slide thumbnails. You can control the way notes or speaker notes are printed in three ways – by editing the Notes Master which affects all slides, by editing single notes pages in Notes Page view or by changing formatting in the Notes pane in Normal View.

In Notes Master View, you can control the position and formatting of all notes pages and add or edit headers, footers, dates, page numbers and even company logos. In Notes Page View, you can control the position and formatting of single notes pages and you can also add other objects such as shapes, pictures, tables, charts and SmartArt. You can't draw shapes or insert pictures in the Notes pane in Normal View but you can draw shapes or add pictures in Notes Page View. Pictures and other objects that you add in Notes Page View appear on printed notes pages but not in Normal View.

Recommended article: How to Export PowerPoint Speaker Notes to Microsoft Word

Do you want to learn more about PowerPoint? Check out our virtual classroom or in-person PowerPoint courses >

Formatting changes made in different views in PowerPoint will appear in the preview area when you click the File tab in the Ribbon, select Print and then choose the option to print Notes Pages.

To move between different views, use the View tab in the Ribbon as shown below:

Print a PowerPoint presentation with notes and slide thumbnails

To print a PowerPoint presentation with notes and slide thumbnails (one per page):

• Click the File tab in the Ribbon and then click Print.
• Under Settings, click the arrow next to Full Page Slides and then in the Print Layout area, click Notes Pages. The preview on the right will display the current notes page. If you've inserted headers, footers, page numbers and a company logo, they will display in the preview. Formatting and any objects you've added in Notes Page view will also appear.
• To specify the page orientation, click the arrow next to Portrait Orientation and then click Portrait Orientation or Landscape Orientation.
• If you want to print your notes and slide thumbnails in color, select a color printer, click the arrow next to Color and then click Color.
• Select any other options you'd like in the Settings area.
• Click Print.

Below are the PowerPoint Print settings:

Print a PowerPoint presentation with notes but without slide thumbnails (notes only)

If you want to print the presentation without the default slide thumbnails, you will need to delete the thumbnail for each slide in its Notes Page. Before proceeding, you may want to make a copy of your presentation and work in the copy.

To print a PowerPoint presentation with notes but without slide thumbnails:

• In Normal View, display the slide with the thumbnail you want to delete.
• Click the View tab in the Ribbon and in the Presentation Views group, click Notes Page.
• To delete the slide thumbnail on the notes page, click the slide thumbnail and then press Delete.
• Repeat for each slide.

Resize the notes area of a single notes page

A default notes page consists of a slide thumbnail on the top half of the page and a section of the same size for notes on the bottom of the page. If you'd like to increase the space for your notes, you can resize these areas.

To increase the space for notes for a single notes page:

• In Normal View, display the slide to which you want to increase the space for notes.
• If you want to increase or decrease the size of the slide thumbnail or notes placeholder on the notes page, drag a sizing handle on the slide thumbnail or notes placeholder in the same way that you would resize other PowerPoint objects. Use a corner handle when resizing the slide thumbnail so you do not distort it. You do not need to use a corner sizing handle for the notes placeholder.
• If you need to move the slide thumbnail or notes placeholder, click the border (not a handle) of the thumbnail or placeholder and drag or press the arrow keys on your keyboard.
• If you want to delete the slide thumbnail on the notes page, click the slide thumbnail and then press Delete.

Below is a default notes page in Notes Page View:

Add objects on a single notes page

You can add objects on a single notes page (which will print but will not appear in Normal View).

To add an object on a single notes page:

• Click the Insert tab in the Ribbon and add the desired shape, picture, table, chart or SmartArt.
• Resize and format the object as necessary.
• Move the object to the desired location.

Resize the notes area of all notes pages

You can also resize the notes area of all notes page using the Notes Master:

• Click the View tab in the Ribbon and in the Master Views group, click Notes Master.

Do not delete the slide thumbnail in the Notes Master View as it has no effect and will still preview.

Below is the default notes page in Notes Master View:

Change font size for all notes pages

You can change font size in the Notes Pages View or in the Notes pane in Normal View. However, to change the font size for the notes for all notes pages:

• Select the desired level in the notes outline and change the font size. You can change the font size using the font size menu in the Home tab in the Ribbon or by right-clicking and selecting a font size in the mini toolbar that appears.

It's best to change the font by changing the font theme through the Design tab in the Ribbon (this is hidden in the Variants drop-down gallery in 2013 and later versions of PowerPoint). If you change the font theme, this will affect the entire presentation (both slides and notes) and is best set when you first create your presentation. Otherwise, users may manually apply fonts on each slide which would override the theme.

Print a logo on all notes pages

To add an object such as a logo to all the notes pages in your presentation (and print it), you will need to edit the Notes Master:

• Click the Insert tab in the Ribbon and click Picture(s).
• Navigate to the folder with the picture / logo you want to insert and double-click it.
• Resize the picture by dragging its handles.
• Position the picture by dragging it (usually by its middle area).

It's best not to delete placeholders (such as header and footer) to accommodate the logo. Instead, move the placeholders to an alternate location.

Print headers and footers on all notes pages

As long as placeholders appear in the Notes Master, you can insert slide numbers, a date and text using the Header & Footer command.

To print headers and footers on all notes pages (assuming you want to print notes only):

• Click the View tab in the Ribbon and click Notes Master in the Master Views group. Note the placeholders in this view. If necessary, move the placeholders to alternate locations by dragging their borders. It's best not to delete header, footer, date or page number placeholders.
• Click the Insert tab in the Ribbon and click Header & Footer in the Text group. A dialog box appears.
• If necessary, click the Notes and Handouts tab in the dialog box.
• Ensure the check box for Page number is checked. You can also check Header, Footer and Date if required. If you check Header and / or Footer, enter text you want to appear in the header or footer text boxes. This could include your company name, your name, your contact information and / or the name of the presentation.
• Click Apply to All.

Below is the Header & Footer dialog box:

You can also print PowerPoint speaker notes in a Microsoft Word document. If you'd like to explore this option, check out the article How to Export PowerPoint Speaker Notes to Microsoft Word .

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More resources

How to Add and Format Notes in PowerPoint

How to Export PowerPoint Speaker Notes to Microsoft Word

How to Hide and Unhide Slides in PowerPoint (with Shortcuts)

How to Quickly Remove All Speaker Notes in PowerPoint (PC or Mac)

3 Ways to Change the Font on All Slides in a PowerPoint Presentation

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How to Print a PowerPoint Presentation With Notes

How many times have you walked away from a great presentation and wished you had the notes from the slide deck? Or are you a presenter that wants to provide slides and notes in a handout format for the audience or for you to uses as a reference while speaking?

Printing a PowerPoint presentation with notes attached can be a valuable tool for presenters at all levels. You can physically print and distribute presentations with notes or “print” them to a PDF for easy digital sharing.

Here’s how you do it.

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Create Notes in Your PowerPoint

The first step toward printing notes from a PowerPoint presentation is to include notes in the proper location.

Open your file and click the Notes button in the bottom toolbar to show the notes field if it is not open. Then just type your notes in the area provided. Click and drag the line above the notes area to expand or collapse the amount of space available.

If you plan to print notes and hand them out, take care with the information you type in. Make sure to use proper spelling, grammar, and citations. Don’t put anything in the notes that should not be public information.

You can use formatting in the notes area, just like any other part of the slide. This includes bulleted and numbered lists or formatting such as bold or italics.

Save your presentation before printing.

Print the Presentation with Notes

There are two view options for printing PowerPoint presentations with notes:

• Full page, with one slide and preprinted notes per page
• Thumbnail view, with a place to write notes (this does not include your presentation notes)

Once you know what format you want to use and your presentation is ready, go to the File tab and click Print.

To print a PowerPoint presentation with your speaker notes, change the layout to Notes. This option prints one slide per page with notes below it. Set other options, such as number of copies and select color or black and white printing. Then click Print.

To print a PowerPoint presentation with room to write notes, change the layout to Handouts. You can select 2, 3, 4, 6, or 9 slides per page. The 3-slides-per-page format is most commonly used because it presents slides that are large enough to see with a lined space for note-taking. Then click Print.

Print PowerPoint Notes Only

You can change the way notes print and remove the default print setting which includes the slide above notes, in the View menu.

Navigate to view and click Notes Page. You can then delete the slide image or make any other design adjustments you want. You have to do this for each slide. If you want to change the notes design for all slides, make changes in the Notes Master. Then save and follow print using the Notes layout.

”Print” PowerPoint Presentation to PDF

Rather than printing a PowerPoint on paper, you can “print” or save the notes as a PDF.

Go to the File tab and click Print. Choose your layout (Notes or Handouts). Select Save as PDF.

That’s it. Now you have all the tools you need to print a PowerPoint presentation with notes.

Don’t forget to take a look at our full PowerPoint templates guide , or our collection of the best PowerPoint templates for your next project!

3 Easy Ways To Print Your PowerPoint Presentation Notes

• By Illiya Vjestica
• - February 13, 2020

Here are three simple ways to print your PowerPoint presentation notes. Let’s begin.

We’re often taught that you should never turn your back to an audience when presenting, and that is why using presentation notes can be important for the audience. Reading straight off your slides is also considered a big no-no. But what if there was a way to keep track of your talk without glancing over at your presentation for a quick reminder of what comes next?

Thankfully there is.

Adding presentation notes to your PowerPoint slides is a great solution. It allows you to keep the vital information on the screen – ensuring your slides aren’t stuffed full of text – while the more in-depth information is available off-screen for you to follow.

Having your notes in this format can help you to deliver a more streamlined, in-depth and impactful presentation – particularly if you have them printed off and to hand. This way they’ll serve as a sort of script that you can follow to ensure that all the key information from your talk is shared effectively while acting as a useful way for you to communicate ideas that might not feature on your slides.

You can also share them with your audience if necessary in the form of a brochure or handout, which is a big plus when it comes to increasing retention rates. This is especially beneficial for more technical presentations or for those which require your audience to remember a lot of information.

Let’s take a look at how to print off your PowerPoint presentation with notes.

1. How to print your PowerPoint with Notes

Let’s start with the simplest option, shall we? If you choose to print your PowerPoint notes in the standard manner, you’ll end up with pages of notes accompanied by the thumbnails of the slides they correspond to, helping you to deliver your speech clearly and easily.

There are some things to bear in mind, though. If you have lots of notes for a particular slide that cover several pages, for instance, the slide thumbnail they correspond to will only appear on the first page. Make sure you’re organised, then, and try to keep your notes as concise as possible to avoid getting lost.

That being said – if short and snappy notes aren’t possible for your talk – there is a little trick you can use. Check out the page number at the bottom of each page. These actually match up to the slide number in your presentation – not the number of pages you are printing – so serve as a useful reference point to help you keep track of where you are.

Here’s how to print out your PowerPoint presentation notes as standard:

• Either go to File > Print to open up your PowerPoint print options, or press CTRL + P
• Go to Settings > Print Layout
• Select the Notes Page Print Layout and click Print

2. How to create PowerPoint notes and print them with Notes Master

Notes Master helps you to customise your presentation even more, and you may find it to be a simpler option when it comes to creating notes that are in-line with your slides. Here are some quick instructions on how to use the tool and to print your PowerPoint presentation notes out afterwards:

1. Select ‘Normal View’ for your PowerPoint

2. Select the ‘View tab’, then select ‘Notes Master’

3. Format the ‘Notes Master’ as you would a PowerPoint slide – this will be self-explanatory

4. Close the ‘Master View’ when you are finished editing the ‘Notes Master’

4. Click ‘Print’ to take you to the ‘Print Options’ page

5. Click ‘Settings’, then open the ‘Print Layout’ options

6. Select the ‘Notes Page’ Print Layout and ‘Print’

3. How to print PowerPoint presentation notes as a customised handout

It’s entirely possible to print your PowerPoint presentation notes as a handout for your audience with accompanying thumbnail image of each slide. Your audience can have all your notes with handy slide numbers so they know where they are in the presentation. Here’s how you can pull this off:

1. Select ‘File Menu’ from the PowerPoint menu

2. Select ‘Export’

3. Click ‘Create Handouts’

4. Click Notes next to slide (this will push all your PowerPoint presentation notes into Microsoft Word)

5. Click Select ‘Table Design’ from the Word menu

6. Select the Design tab from the Word menu

7. Customise the handout design to your own liking and feel, changing the colours and typography.

8. Go to ‘File’ then ‘Print Options’ select ‘Print’ you can choose whether you would like your notes either ‘Landscape’ or Portrait’

Microsoft have also put together further instructions if you want to style and customise your presentation handouts in PowerPoint.

A noteworthy presentation

So there you have it. In our opinion, these are the best ways to print out your PowerPoint presentation notes for a clear, effective and engaging talk.

If you need any help with planning your presentations in the future or want to find out more about what we can do, contact us here .

Create stunning presentations with our templates, toolkits and guides.

Illiya Vjestica

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Unfortunately the export to Word function doesn’t appear to work on the MAC version of PowerPoint which is a shame as you can export as a pdf or rich text, but not MS Word. Unless there is another way?

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How to Print PowerPoint Slides with Notes: A Step-by-Step Guide

Navigating the world of PowerPoint presentations can be a bit like traversing a maze, especially when it comes to printing slides with notes. Fortunately, we’ve got the map to guide you through the process. Printing PowerPoint slides with notes is a straightforward task that just requires a few specific steps.

First things first, make sure you’ve entered all your speaker notes in the “Notes” section of your presentation. This can be your secret weapon during your presentation, giving you all the talking points without overwhelming your audience with too much text on the slides themselves.

When you’re ready to print, choose the Notes Pages option under Print Layout. This feature allows you to print out each slide alongside its corresponding notes. Customize your print settings, select the printer, and your slides will be presentation-ready.

• 1.1 Choosing the Right Layout Options
• 1.2 Adjusting Print Settings for Optimal Results
• 2.1 Working with Microsoft Word for Professional Handouts
• 2.2 Customizing Notes Pages for Audience Takeaways
• 3.1 Enhancing Visual Elements for Printed Copies
• 3.2 Ensuring Readability with Font and Object Scaling
• 4.1 Printing from Windows and Mac Operating Systems
• 4.2 Utilizing Web and PDF Options for Sharing

Setting Up Your Document for Printing

When preparing to print PowerPoint slides with notes, it’s crucial to choose the right layout options and adjust print settings for the best results. Below, we will explore how to achieve these goals effectively.

Choosing the Right Layout Options

Before hitting the print button, we need to select the appropriate layout for our presentations. Start by going to File > Print . Here, we encounter various layout options under the Settings section.

• Print Layout : Choose between full-page slides, handouts, or notes pages. For printing slides with notes, select Notes Pages .
• Orientation : Decide whether to print in Landscape or Portrait . Typically, Landscape is more common for presentations, but Portrait may suit certain documents.
• Color Options : Opt for Color , Grayscale , or Pure Black and White . If concerned about ink usage, Grayscale is a good compromise.

Carefully picking these settings ensures our printed slides and notes are clear and professional. Familiarity with each option lets us tailor the print layout to our specific needs.

Adjusting Print Settings for Optimal Results

To produce the best printed output, optimal print settings are crucial. In the Print dialog, under Settings , several adjustments can be made.

• Print Range : Choose to print all slides, specific slides, or a custom range. This helps focus on what’s essential.
• Scale to Fit : Ensure content fits properly on the page. Enable Scale to Fit Paper to avoid cutoff content.
• Print Quality : Higher DPI settings yield sharper images but consume more ink. Select a balance that suits our needs.
• Include Hidden Slides : Decide whether to print hidden slides by toggling on or off.
• Header and Footer : Add or remove headers and footers for additional context or documentation.

Adjust these settings to achieve clear, readable slides with notes. It’s a balance between quality and ink usage, ensuring the final print meets our expectations.

By focusing on these layout and print settings, we ensure our printed PowerPoint slides with notes are both effective and efficient.

Creating Handouts and Notes Pages

To create effective handouts and notes pages, we need to leverage the features of Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. By customizing these tools, we can produce professional handouts and comprehensive notes pages for audience takeaways.

Working with Microsoft Word for Professional Handouts

We can use Microsoft Word to create polished and professional handouts. First , export the PowerPoint slides to Word by navigating to File > Export > Create Handouts . This function allows us to include slide thumbnails alongside notes or comments.

For a more customized touch, we can adjust the layout in Word. Use columns to rearrange content, add our company’s logo, and include any contact information or additional details needed.

Key tips for creating handouts in Word:

• Insert slide thumbnails.
• Use columns for a neat arrangement.
• Add company logos and contact information.
• Include any extra notes or comments for clarity.

This format ensures that our audience has a complete and easily readable document.

Customizing Notes Pages for Audience Takeaways

Notes pages in PowerPoint offer a versatile format to include detailed speaker notes beneath each slide. Adjusting the Notes Master view allows us to align content perfectly and add elements like headers or footers.

We can control how many slides per page to print by selecting Print > Notes Pages . This layout provides both the thumbnail image of the slide and space for extended notes. Customizing notes pages also allows us to incorporate comments or additional explanations specifically tailored to our audience.

Important customization points:

• Use Notes Master view for layout adjustments.
• Align text, add headers, company logos, and contact details.
• Determine the number of slides per page .
• Include comprehensive notes and comments.

By fine-tuning these elements, our notes pages become invaluable tools for the audience, serving as both a reference and a synopsis of our presentation content.

Optimizing PowerPoint Slides for Print

To create print-ready PowerPoint slides that look sharp and professional, it’s essential to focus on both visual elements and readability. Balancing these aspects ensures that your printed slides and notes pages are functional and visually appealing.

Enhancing Visual Elements for Printed Copies

When we print PowerPoint slides, clear and effective visuals are key. First, ensure images and graphics maintain high resolution. Low-quality images can look pixelated, detracting from your presentation.

Proper use of charts and graphs can enhance understanding. Make sure they are not cluttered and use contrasting colors. This ensures that essential information stands out, even in black and white prints.

Formatting your slides consistently is crucial. Use a cohesive theme or template with uniform fonts and colors to give a professional look. Pick landscape orientation if printing full page slides to optimize space usage on standard paper.

Lastly, consider printing multiple slides per page if you aim to save paper. This option is perfect for handouts that don’t require large-scale visuals but maintain readability.

Ensuring Readability with Font and Object Scaling

Print readability starts with choosing the right font size and type. Stick to simple, sans-serif fonts like Arial or Calibri, which are easy on the eyes. We recommend a minimum font size of 12 points for printed notes pages for clarity.

Scale objects like text boxes and images appropriately. Overly large or small elements can make the content hard to read or overly cluttered.

Aligning elements consistently makes information flow logically, making it easier to follow. For instance, keeping notes under the respective slide thumbnails helps in retaining context.

Always preview before printing. Print speaker notes spaced evenly to avoid overlapping text and images. Proper alignment and scaling aid in presenting well-structured, legible material.

Finalizing Printing from Different Platforms

Printing PowerPoint slides with notes involves a few steps that vary depending on the platform you’re using. Whether you are using Windows, Mac, or opting for web and PDF formats, it’s crucial to follow specific steps to ensure a smooth printing process.

Printing from Windows and Mac Operating Systems

On Windows , open your PowerPoint presentation and hit Ctrl+P or navigate to File > Print . In the Print Layout options, choose Notes Page . This will print each slide with its corresponding notes underneath.

For Mac users in Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac :

• Open your slide deck.
• Navigate to File > Print .
• Click Show Details .
• Select PowerPoint in the layout dropdown.
• Choose Notes .

In both Windows and Mac, you will see a preview of what the printed notes pages will look like. Adjust printer settings as needed and then click Print .

Utilizing Web and PDF Options for Sharing

For web-based solutions or when sharing your slides as PDFs, follow these steps. In PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 or any recent versions like PowerPoint 2021, 2019, 2016, or 2013 , go to File > Save As > PDF . Ensure that Options includes Notes pages .

If you prefer using a web-based tool such as Adobe Acrobat :

• Open your PowerPoint file.
• Go to File > Print .
• Select Show Details .
• Choose Notes under Print Layout.
• Save as PDF and open in a PDF viewer for previewing.

Sharing via web or PDF is convenient for collaboration or distributing presentations. This method preserves the formatting and ensures all notes are visible just like in the PowerPoint application.

Related posts:

• How to Record a PowerPoint Presentation: Step-by-Step Guide for Professionals
• How to Crop a Picture into a Circle in PowerPoint: A Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Copy a Slide from One PowerPoint to Another: A Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Print PowerPoint with Notes: A Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Insert PDF into PowerPoint: A Step-by-Step Guide for Seamless Integration
• How to Convert PowerPoint to PDF: A Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Create a Timeline in PowerPoint: Step-by-Step Guide for Professionals
• How to Change Slide Size in PowerPoint: A Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Save a PowerPoint as a Video for Smooth Presentations
• How to Apply a Template to an Existing PowerPoint: Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Change Font on All Slides in PowerPoint: A Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Add Bullet Points in PowerPoint: Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

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How to use speaker notes in powerpoint.

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Microsoft office vs. google docs, sheets, slides: which is best, sd card not showing up in windows 10 ways to fix it, quick links, add speaker notes in powerpoint, use speaker notes during a powerpoint presentation.

Adding speaker notes to a PowerPoint presentation provides reference material for the speaker when they're presenting a slideshow, allowing them to stay on track without forgetting key message points. Here’s how to add and use speaker notes.

To add speaker notes in PowerPoint, you’ll first need to be in the Normal view. If you’re not already there, you can switch to Normal view by going to the “View” tab and then selecting “Normal” in the “Presentation Views” group.

Next, in the pane on left, select the slide where you'd like to add speaker notes.

Next, click the “Notes” button at the bottom of the window.

A small box reading “Tap to Add Notes” will appear beneath the slide. For Mac users, this will say “Click to Add Notes.”

Now, simply type the speaker notes for that slide. Repeat this process for each slide you'd like to add notes to.

There are two ways to use speaker notes during a presentation: by presenting on a secondary monitor or by printing out the speaker notes .

Using a Secondary Monitor

It’s safe to assume that most presentations will be presented on a secondary monitor. If this is the case for you, there’s not a whole lot you really need to do.

Related: How to Add an Extra Monitor to Your Laptop

The first thing you need to do is change the view to Slide Show. You can do this by selecting the Slide Show icon at the bottom-right corner of the window.

In this view, the audience will see only the slides as you’re going through the presentation. However, on your primary monitor, you’ll see the current slide, a preview of the upcoming slide, and your speaker notes for the current slide.

This is a convenient way to have a virtual copy of the speaker notes while you’re giving a presentation, but it never hurts to have a hard copy.

Printing the Speaker Notes

To print the speaker notes of your presentation, first select the “File” tab in the Ribbon.

Related: How to Print Multiple PowerPoint Slides to Each Piece of Paper

In the pane on left, select the “Print" button.

In the “Settings” group, select the option that says “Full Page Slides.”

A drop-down menu will appear. Here, select “Notes Pages” in the “Print Layout” group.

Finally, click “Print.”

You’ll now have a physical copy of your speaker notes.

• Microsoft Office
• Office 2016

How to Add Speaker Notes in PowerPoint (Tutorial)

Speaker notes in PowerPoint can be a lifesaver for presenters who need a quick reference during their talk. Instead of struggling to remember key points or losing your place during a presentation, you can have your notes right in front of you.

Whether you're a seasoned presenter or new to public speaking, this tutorial will help you feel more confident and prepared for your next presentation. With insights and practical tips from our in-house presentation designers , you'll have all the tools you need for success.

Let's dive in and explore how to add speaker notes in PowerPoint, taking your presentations to the next level!

In this tutorial, we’ll cover the following topics :

• Starting with the basics: How to add speaker notes in PowerPoint
• Ready to Captivate Your Audience? Let’s see how to view speaker notes while presenting
• From PCs to Macs, learn how to print speaker notes in PowerPoint
• Get answers to your FAQs and unlock tips for better presentations

Let’s start with the basics - or feel free to skip to your preferred section using the list above.

Adding speaker notes in PowerPoint

Adding notes to PPT is a reasonably straightforward process, regardless of your operating system. Here's how to add notes in PowerPoint:

• Select a slide you want to add notes to.
• View the Notes pane located beneath each slide. If it's not visible, you can make it appear by clicking Notes on the bottom taskbar.
• You will see a blank space with the prompt "Click to add notes." That's where you can enter your speaker notes.

Pro tip: Add Notes Via Notes Page view

Are you looking to give an impeccably organized presentation? Feronika Wulandari , design manager from 24 Slides, has a pro tip for you!

"For presentations that will be copied or distributed to the audience as a reference later, it is crucial to provide detailed speaker notes. Merely looking at our presentation slides may leave the audience struggling to grasp the context.”

If you're aiming for an impeccably organized and informative presentation, Feronika's advice is invaluable. Take your presentations to the next level by utilizing the powerful Notes Page view in PowerPoint . This feature allows you to incorporate comprehensive speaker notes into your slides, ensuring your audience can fully grasp the context after the presentation.

In the Notes Page view, you have complete control over the content of your speaker notes. Customize the font size, and enrich the notes with images, shapes, charts, and more. You can even tailor the background color to suit your preferences or corporate branding. As Feronika says:

“In the notes view, we can include ample text to facilitate the audience's understanding of the presentation's context. It also is an excellent tool for attaching references and citations, particularly for content-heavy presentations like scientific ones.”

Ready to try it out? Here's how you access the Notes Page view:

• Click View .
• Look for the Presentation Views section .
• Select Notes Page .

If you want even more control over how you want your notes to look, you can check out the Notes Master . This is how you can try it out:

• Look for the Master Views section .
• Select Notes Master.

Here you can choose the design and layout of the notes page and select options for your page setup. This is what the Notes Master looks like:

Now that you know how to add notes to PowerPoint, let's see how to present PowerPoint with notes.

Ready for your next presentation? Check out how to see speaker notes while presenting

To prepare for your next presentation, follow these steps so you can have your notes on hand without your audience being able to see them. First, click on the Slide Show tab , and select the box Use Presenter View . This is what the Presenter View in PPT looks like:

To access the presenter view, start your slideshow and then click on the left button of your mouse. From the options that appear, select Show Presenter View .

And last, learn how to print notes in PowerPoint

Printing PowerPoint presenter notes can be done in different ways, depending on your operating system. Let's look at each one of them.

How to print Speaker Notes (PowerPoint - Windows)

• Click File in the top left corner.
• Choose Notes Pages from the Settings dropdown menu.
• Adjust any other printer settings.
• Click Print .

How to print Speaker Notes (PowerPoint - macOS)

• Click File .

3. Click Show Details .

4. Select Notes from the Layout dropdown menu.

5. Adjust any other printer settings.

6. Click Print .

You may also want to know: How to print notes without slides?

If you want to print speaker notes only, this is what you should do:

• Go to the View tab and click Notes Page . On each page, you’ll see a thumbnail of the slide and the notes it has.

2. Select the thumbnail on each page and press delete . Repeat this step for each notes page.

3. Finally, go to the File tab and click Print. Now, repeat the note-printing process shown in the section above.

How to print PowerPoint slides with notes: Multiple per page

If you want to print multiple slides on the same page, including the notes, follow these steps: 1. Open the File menu, select Export , and click on Create Handouts.

2. Select Notes next to slides , and click OK.

This will begin the export to Word, where you can finish printing your slides and notes as a document.

Customer Frequently Asked Questions

What are speaker notes in powerpoint.

Speaker notes on PowerPoint presentations are a feature that allows presenters to add additional information that won't appear in the presentation slides.

PowerPoint notes can be used to provide additional context and details about the content on the slide, such as statistics or critical messages. They can also help emphasize specific points without cluttering their slides with too much information. They are a valuable tool for presenters to keep essential points at hand while giving a presentation.

These are some examples of speaker notes in PowerPoint:

Benefits of using speaker notes in PowerPoint

Why add speaker notes to PowerPoint? Learning how to use notes can be a game-changer , it can benefit you in many ways.

Speaker notes on PowerPoint can help you recall important points and key messages as you give a presentation. They also provide a security blanket, giving you the confidence to deliver your speech without worrying about forgetting something.

Remember, not worrying about memorization can help you prioritize inflection and tone and make you look more professional and connected with your audience.

How do I edit slide Notes?

A good thing to remember is that you can edit your speaker notes anytime you want. So, if there is a last-minute change or a new detail you would like to consider, you can follow these steps:

• Select the slide where you want to edit notes.

You will be able to see the Notes written in the Notes Pane . Click inside it so you can edit de content. Click outside the Notes Pane to save your changes.

What is the use of Notes Page view?

The Notes Page view is a PowerPoint feature that can help you upgrade your note-taking experience . Rather than presenting your notes in a simple text format, this feature presents them as individual pages with diverse layouts, colors, and formatting options for you to explore and customize.

If you would like to check out this feature, check out our Notes Page View section .

What is the advantage of the Notes Page view?

So, why is this feature impressive? Well, the Notes Page view offers several advantages that simplify the management of your notes:

• Organization: When it comes to giving presentations, being organized is essential. You can't afford to waste time deciphering your notes. With the Notes Page view, you effortlessly organize them into distinct pages, sections, or categories, allowing you to find what you need quickly.
• Personalization: The Notes Page view also puts you in complete control. It lets you customize the appearance and layout of your notes according to your preferences. You can explore a wide array of templates, themes, and styles, making your note-taking experience unique.

What is the difference between Slide Sorter view and Notes Page view?

The Slide Sorter view and Notes Page view are two different viewing options in PowerPoint .

The Slide Sorter view in PowerPoint provides a condensed and sequential display of all the slides in your presentation. It presents miniature versions of each slide in a grid layout, allowing you to manage the order and structure of your presentation easily.

This view is beneficial when you need to reorganize your content or gain a quick understanding of your entire presentation at a glance.

On the other hand, the Notes Page view allows you to see your slides along with any accompanying speaker notes . It is ideal for creating and reviewing speaker notes, providing a dedicated area to jot down the additional information you want to reference during your presentation.

You can customize and format your notes as needed, making them a valuable resource for guiding your delivery or providing more in-depth explanations.

Get outstanding presentations that make you stand out from the crowd!

If you want to improve your presentation skills and give a more professional image to your business, this tutorial can help. However, the design for your presentation is crucial, and that's where our presentation design solutions come in.

At 24Slides , we transform presentations from "good" to "extraordinary," saving you time and effort. Say goodbye to long working hours on PowerPoint and let our design experts amaze you overnight!

You might also like these articles:

• How to Add a Timer to Your Powerpoint Presentations
• How to Make a PowerPoint Slideshow that Runs Automatically
• How to Create Your Perfect Webinar Presentation (+Examples)
• Master Slides 101: How to Create and Use Master Slides in PowerPoint
• How to Track Changes in PowerPoint

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How to print a PowerPoint presentation with notes to keep you organized and help your audience follow along

• It's easy to print a PowerPoint presentation with notes so that you can reference talking points or so that your audience can follow every detail. 
• To print a PowerPoint slide presentation with notes, all you have to do is change the print settings to include presentation notes. 
• Visit Business Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories .

PowerPoint , the presentation program from Microsoft , offers a plethora of features that can help you make the best presentation possible. One of these features is the ability to print your PowerPoint presentations with speaker notes.

This feature could be incredibly useful in business settings, especially if you are giving a very detailed presentation and you want to give your audience the ability to follow along easily. 

It can also be useful to help you rehearse your presentation, or keep you organized when you're giving it.

It's simple to print your PowerPoint slides with notes. All you have to do is change one setting in the "Print" menu. It's a little different if you use a Mac instead of a PC , but the two processes are very similar. 

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

Microsoft office (from $149.99 at best buy), apple macbook pro (from $1,299.00 at apple), acer chromebook 15 (from $179.99 at walmart), how to print powerpoint with notes on a pc.

1. With PowerPoint open on your PC, click "File" in the top left corner.

2. In the sidebar of the "File" menu, click "Print."

3. On the "Print" menu, under "Settings", click the dropdown menu that allows you to choose how to print the slides. Click "Full Page Slides," which will reveal a dropdown menu.

4. From the dropdown menu, select "Notes Pages."

5. Then, select "Print." 

How to print PowerPoint with notes on a Mac

1. With PowerPoint open on your Mac, click "File" in the top left corner.

2. In the pop-up print menu, click "Show Details."

3. In the "Layout" box, click "Notes" to add the presentation notes.

4. Make sure all your other settings are configured as you want them.

5. Then, select "Print."

Related coverage from  Tech Reference :

How to change and format the background of your powerpoint slides to custom designs, how to convert a powerpoint to google slides in two different ways, how to make a powerpoint presentation into a video, so that it plays automatically without you having to click through each slide, how to add music to a powerpoint slideshow to make your presentation more engaging, how to download and access microsoft powerpoint on your mac computer.

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Watch: Meet the former advertising creative who has built a career out of writing positive post-it notes to strangers around London

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How to print PowerPoint with notes

• Written by: Richard Goring
• Categories: PowerPoint design , PowerPoint productivity
• Comments: 2

What’s the weirdest thing people do in PowerPoint? Yes, the answer could be to make Christmas cards , or even worse, Valentine’s Day cards , but in general it’s printing the slides .  At BrightCarbon we promote the use of PowerPoint as a presentation tool, where visual slides support a presenter and use graphics, diagrams, and animations to explain the key points. These types of slides often don’t print well because of layers and animations, and they certainly aren’t self-explanatory. But sometimes you do need to print PowerPoint slides, or print PowerPoint slides with notes, or even print multiple slides on one page . So, if do you need to do that, how do you do it?

The best, and possibly easiest, thing to do is not print your slides, but print the Notes Pages in PowerPoint. Notes Page is a special view that shows the slide and the speaker notes on the same page. This allows you to have a more visual slide to explain the point when presenting, and then a detailed set of notes for your audience to use as reference material.

• Go to the File tab in the top left of the ribbon (or use Ctrl + P )
• Choose Print from the menu
• Under Settings , click the Print Layout drop-down (which says Full Page Slides by default) and select Notes Pages .

The nice thing about using the Notes Page to print PowerPoint with notes is that there is a separate, dedicated view for it, so you don’t have to compromise on the design of your main slide, but it’s all contained in a single file.

Go to the View tab on the ribbon, then select Notes Page on the left to see the standard layout with a slide at the top and speaker notes underneath.

You can simply print it as is, but of course there’s so much more that you can do to print PowerPoint with notes that look good and give off a sense of professionalism. Watch this video tutorial or scroll down for step-by-step instructions and even more detail.

How to create a PowerPoint notes master

How to add notes in powerpoint, how to reset a powerpoint notes page, problems with powerpoint notes pages, how to print notes in powerpoint or save as pdf, changing default print settings.

Print PowerPoint notes in grayscale or black and white

How to export PowerPoint speaker notes to Word

If you want to alter the layout of the PowerPoint Notes Page, you can do so in the Notes Master (to the right of the Notes Page button on the ribbon). Here you can update the formatting of all the Notes Pages in your deck which includes backgrounds, arrangement of the placeholder content elements (header, slide image, footer, date, body text, and page number), adding a grid using guides, and even adding custom elements, such as extra graphics, logos, and other non-placeholder content. You can even set a different brand style to your presentation with a new color and font theme. In fact, you’ll have to copy these over from your main presentation if you want to keep things consistent. You can also change the Notes Page orientation from portrait to landscape.

This means that, when you print notes in PowerPoint, you can create a completely custom and beautifully designed Notes Page to act as a dedicated handout, rather than the usual tedious affair of a slide thumbnail thrown on the slide with a load of notes haphazardly arranged underneath.

What you can’t do in the Notes Page view, which seems foolish, is change the page size. You may be tempted by the Slide Size button on the left of the Notes Master tab, but that changes the size of your presentation slides, so don’t use it! It will affect your whole presentation, mess up content and, if you’ve not removed the variants from your slide master (by saving as a .potx template file), then it will also alter the colors and fonts too. The paper size is set by your default printer settings. To change it, you have to change the print settings, which are in File > Print > Printer > Printer Properties . Remember to choose the printer from the drop-down menu too, as each printer in the list has different settings. I suspect the reason you have to navigate this path to Mordor to change the paper size is that no one expects you to do it, but at least now you know you can.

Occasionally things go wonky and the PowerPoint notes pages change size or are all different sizes. It’s an obscure bug, but can happen if you open the file in PowerPoint for the web. Fortunately, the excellent Steve Rindsberg has a quick solution to fix Notes Page size problems .

Back to the notes pages themselves, as well as changing the Notes Master, you can also go to the Notes Page in the View tab and add notes in PowerPoint by personalizing each individual page. This won’t impact your presented slides, but it allows you to create something perfect for printed handouts.

The standard layout for the PowerPoint Notes Page uses the Notes Master. You can alter any of the text in the main notes placeholder to add notes in PowerPoint, which will also transfer through to the speaker notes of your slides. You can alter the formatting of the notes so that they look better or are easier to read, but only basic formatting like bold, italics, and underline, plus bulleted and numbered lists will transfer to the slide speaker notes in PowerPoint. You can also alter the color, size, and font of text, and things like the margins, line spacing, and paragraph spacing, but this won’t transfer to the slide speaker notes. It’s worth noting that any changes in formatting you make to the slide speaker notes – like changing the color or font – will be reflected in the Notes Page, even though you can’t see these changes in the speaker notes view.

You can take it further by deviating from the standard PowerPoint notes template. For example, it may be that you have a key messages slide, or an agenda, contacts, or data slide, where there isn’t anything of value to be added with the speaker notes, and it’s better to see the slide as large as possible on the page when printed. Well, this is your opportunity. You can alter the size and position of any of the six placeholder element types. It’s easy to make the slide fill the page and remove the notes completely. You can also add additional custom elements onto each notes page. This might include additional information, data tables, highlights, ink annotations, or punchlines for key points. You’re essentially created a dedicated, custom notes page to print PowerPoint with notes, without affecting the presentation slides at all.

However, only content in the body placeholder of the notes page will appear in the speaker notes (and likewise anything in the speaker notes will appear in the notes page body placeholder). Custom formatted notes content like you can see in this example, with separate text boxes or visual representations of data, won’t appear in the speaker notes. One workaround is to put the body placeholder off the edge of the page. This means it won’t be seen when you print PowerPoint with notes or save handouts as a PDF, but all the content is still there in your speaker notes. With all this customization you’re essentially creating a second document, so be wary of the time requirement. On the upside, it’s all in one file and there are no version control issues.

If you have a lot of notes for a single slide, you may be frustrated that they extend beyond the body text placeholder into your carefully selected margins or go off the edge of the page entirely. You can use the text formatting options to shrink text to the size of the text box ( Right-click > Format Shape > Text Options > Text Box > Shrink text on overflow ). On any individual text boxes where the text spills out beyond the placeholder, you’ll get a small AutoCorrect control appearing at the bottom left of the placeholder, allowing you to choose to AutoFit Text to Placeholder for that particular page. However, if you miss this, all is not lost, as PowerPoint, rather ingeniously, will recognize that you have text outside of the text placeholder, and when you print the notes pages, it will put that overflow text onto a second page, starting at the top with no slide thumbnail, but in line with your standard text box placeholder. Usefully (probably) it numbers both pages the same, so you won’t get additional page numbers from the extra overflow pages. That means you don’t have to force your audience to read tiny text just because you have a lot of it.

It’s also worth noting that you can’t change the presentation slide itself in the Notes Page view, and also that any changes you make to the slides will impact the thumbnail image of the slide that’s in the notes page. So you can’t have a layered slide for presenting and a flat slide for printed notes all on the same slide, unfortunately (unless you go to a lot of effort to create a flat summary version as a top layer that disappears instantly and so isn’t seen during the presentation).

If you alter a notes page and then decide you want to reset it to the original layout, you need to use the Reapply Master function. As far as I can tell, the only way to do this is on a blank area of the notes page right-click , choose Notes Layout , then Reapply Master from the pop-up menu. This will reset the notes page to the default in the notes master. That includes resetting the position of moved objects, restoring deleted elements, and removing any custom formatting from the text.

If you want to do this to every notes page in the deck, we’ve got a quick fix to reapply master to ALL PowerPoint notes pages .

There are a number of problems with PowerPoint notes pages that it’s worth knowing about.

You can’t add hyperlinks to objects in Notes Pages. However, if your text includes a URL, then the text itself will turn into hyperlink. If you really want to add hyperlinks to PowerPoint notes pages, you can create an object with a hyperlink in the Normal view (standard presentation editing) and then copy/paste that into the notes page, and the hyperlink will work. It seems bizarre, but there you are.

As noted above, it’s confusing that you can’t change the notes page size anywhere in the PowerPoint interface. In the Notes Master, there’s a group called Page Size where you can change the orientation of the page and the size of the slide, but it’s the size of the presentation slide , not the notes page . Doing this could ruin your actual presentation. To change the page size itself, you have to go to File > Print > Printer > Printer Properties > Mordor > Paper Quality > Mount Doom > Paper Sizes .

Print setup

If you do change your notes page size, then it’s per printer, not for the document. And so you end up changing the notes page for all subsequent presentations that you open. If you go on to choose another printer, or decide to print to PDF, then it changes the notes page size again. And of course, this will cause problems sharing the file with others, especially if they’re in a different country and use a different paper size (Letter in the US and A4 everywhere else, for example).

Placeholder scaling

When you change notes page size, the scaling of the placeholder elements is odd. It seems like it doesn’t like the slide image placeholder especially, which scales differently and ends up partially off the page, so ideally change the notes page size right at the start, before you do anything else.

No outline on slide image

All the slide images have a thin black line around them, which is OK, but doesn’t look great. However, applying ‘no outline’ to the slide image in the notes page makes the slide image disappear completely. If you want to remove the outline, you can apply an outline with 100% transparency, which means the line is invisible. No, I don’t understand it either.

Guides are a really useful way to ensure alignment, especially to a grid. But in the PowerPoint notes pages, the guides function is pretty much unusable. At least sensibly. If you create guides, their position is based on the size of the presentation slide, not the page. So if a slide is 13.3”x7.5”, then guide positions are measured using that boundary. You can’t have a guide that is more than 7.5” from the top of the page (but the standard portrait letter page is 10” tall, so guides cannot be dragged into the bottom quarter of the page). Also, the 0/0 centre point of the horizontal and vertical guides is somewhere near the right-hand edge of the page, about a third of the way from the top. If you’re OK with just using guides to create a grid of vertical bars, and happy to work out the odd position measurements, then you’re golden, but it feels somewhat incomplete, which is a shame.

When you want to print notes in PowerPoint, go to the File tab in the top left of the ribbon (or use Ctrl + P ), and then choose Print from the menu on the left-hand side. Here you have a number of options, but the key ones are under settings in the middle on the left, where you need to click the Print Layout drop-down (which says Full Page Slides by default) and select Notes Pages . This will print out the notes pages that you’ve formatted, or you can choose to just print PowerPoint Full Page Slides , or Handouts .

You can choose to print all the slides or notes pages, just the ones you’ve selected (in the normal view) or type specific slide or page numbers to print. In this same drop-down menu, you can also choose whether to print hidden slides. This can be useful if you have hidden detail slides that you don’t want to present, but you’d like to print notes in PowerPoint for all the slides in your deck.

There are also options for one- and two-sided printing (which will depend on your printer’s capabilities), and also collation options. You can also choose to print in color or using the grayscale or black and white settings. Find more details on that below .

Remember to choose your printer using the button at the top of the list. Clicking the drop-down menu will allow you to change printer. Be really careful when doing this, as the default paper size may change for the new printer, which will ruin the layout of the notes pages – scaling is often glitchy and if you’ve lined things up beautifully then you’ll be disappointed. You can also use this drop-down menu to print PowerPoint with notes as PDF using Microsoft Print to PDF . However, be warned, the PDF printer page size is slightly different from the standard printer one. More specifically, the margins for the page size are different. For physical printers, PowerPoint takes into account a half inch border around the page, knowing that printers generally won’t work edge to edge. But for PDF that’s not needed, so those margins are removed. You need to think carefully about what you want your notes to look like. If you want them to look like they do on-screen, then go into Settings > Print Layout , and select Scale to Fit Paper . Or if you want it to look like a printed page, with the default print margins (perhaps because you want to print it later), then deselect Scale to Fit Paper and you’ll get the full margins all around.

If altering all these print settings seems a bit tedious, and you regularly do the same thing each time, you can choose default print settings to suit you. Go to the File tab on the ribbon, choose Options on the bottom left then select Advanced from the pop-up window menu. Next, scroll all the way down (don’t worry, we’re almost there!), and you’ll find two sets of printing options. The standard ‘ Print’ functions may not be useful, but below it, there’s ‘ When printing this document ’. The standard PowerPoint behavior is to use whatever settings you last used, so if you print lots of different types of documents then you have to constantly change things. Alternatively, these settings allow you to set the default printing settings for each presentation file you have open. So it might be that one particular presentation is only ever printed with notes in grayscale, while another is full slides in color.

It’s the same collection of settings as outlined in the printer options above, but you just set them for each document, which can cause slightly less frustration.

Print PowerPoint PowerPoint notes in grayscale or black and white

If you’re printing in color, you will hopefully see if the contrast ratios are correct clear, as the screen is showing what will be printed – although it’s always worth checking to see if there are any accessibility issues with it, for example is the color contrast high enough to be legible for people with common forms of color blindness . Our free BrightSlide add-in has a built-in color contrast checker for PowerPoint that can be really useful. However, if you’re printing in grayscale then it can be a bit more problematic, because you don’t know how the printer will interpret the colors you’ve chosen. Fortunately, PowerPoint gives you some neat tools to manage this and give you a grayscale specific print version of your slides that doesn’t impact your color presentation at all.

Go to the View tab on the ribbon and choose the Grayscale option. Now, you can see what the slide will look like when printed in grayscale. You also get a new tab on the ribbon called Grayscale . The commands on this ribbon allow you to change the grayscale formatting of any object on the slide without changing the color formatting when you’re presenting. So, if something doesn’t look right, you can make it darker or lighter, black or white, or even choose not to show the object. This is great if you want to make sure you get the best print from a black and white printer.

It’s worth noting that there are a couple of quirks. If you have text in a shape, or a textbox with a fill color, then these settings only apply to the fill color of the object, not the text. However, if you have a plain textbox with no fill color, then the settings apply to the text itself. Also, there is a ‘ Don’t Show ’ option, which is great to remove ink-heavy content like images or big blocks of color, especially in the background. Irritatingly, if there is text typed into the object, then choosing Don’t Show will hide the object, but not the text. This feels odd, given that the ‘ White ’ option essentially does the same thing if you’re using a white background (makes the object fill or a picture appear white, so it’s invisible when printed on paper). And when printing in grayscale or black and white, any slide background fill is automatically removed. However, graphics on the slide master aren’t, so just be aware that you may not get quite the result you want, depending on how the slide master was built.

To hide all graphics from the background and the slide master, right-click on the slide and choose Format Background from the pop-up menu. In the window that appears on the right, there’s a check box to Hide background graphics . This is a setting for each slide individually AND it affects your presentation slides, so be careful about using it, or reset when you’re done printing.

And all of this is also available in the Black and White settings, which can be helpful for even more frugal use of ink, or to create an ultra-high-contrast version, essentially giving you two custom versions of your presentation that can be used for printing, but don’t impact the actual presentation slides.

Of course, it could be that all you want is to export your speaker notes to Word and print those, rather than print PowerPoint slides with notes. You can do this in PowerPoint by:

• Go to the File tab in the ribbon and select Export on the left-hand side
• Choose Create Handouts in the grey menu bar
• Click the Create Handouts button on the right
• Then choose Notes below slides from the pop-up menu

This will produce a Word document with a thumbnail of each slide with speaker notes underneath. The nice thing about this is that if you change the slides, then they will change in the Word document. But the speaker notes don’t, which may or may not be helpful. The big issue is that it’s Word, and dealing with images in Word can often be tricky if you want to format things precisely. So think about whether you’ll want to format this document further.

If you want to export speaker notes to other programs, our free BrightSlide add-in for PowerPoint allows you to do exactly that. On the BrightSlide tab in the ribbon, go to Review on the right-hand side, then Speaker Notes , and Export to Text File , Export to Excel File , and even Export to Word File . You’ll get an automatically generated Text, Excel, or Word document with the speaker notes of every slide. In Word you’ll get the title from each slide added with Heading 1 formatting, allowing you to easily navigate through it all. BrightSlide will also give you a total word count for the notes or allow you to delete all speaker notes from PowerPoint.

And there you have it, plenty of options showing you how to print PowerPoint with notes. But just because you can doesn’t necessarily mean you should print notes in PowerPoint for every presentation. Consider what will be most helpful to your audience, and perhaps consider more dedicated and specific handouts for them instead. You can go even further, as demonstrated by Nolan Haims, who has done some lovely print work using PowerPoint. For example, this report on non-profit funding in the age of Covid that he created for the Center for Effective Philanthropy, and a funding report in spreads that you can see in his portfolio.

Richard Goring

Related articles, how to create powerpoint templates that work.

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Good morning,

Would you please orient me o how to design and create colored pages in power point with writing in it. i want to insert them in my facebook page.

Thanks in advance Youness,

Hi Youness. Probably the best way is to change the background colour of your slide and then add a text box over the top. Go to the ‘Design’ tab on the ribbon, then ‘Format Background’ on the right-hand side. That will give you he ability to apply a solid fill colour of your choice. And you then put any content you like on top of that colour.

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Everything You Need to know About Notes in PowerPoint

• Post author: Jacob Stauttener
• Post published: October 11, 2021
• Post category: Presentations
• Post last modified: August 15, 2022
• Reading time: 23 mins read

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Do you have a presentation to make and find yourself wondering how to add notes to PowerPoint?

Adding notes to your PowerPoint Presentation is a simple and effective way to make presenting easier. In this article, we will go over how you can add notes to PowerPoint, tips on using those notes, and how to print some fancy PowerPoint notes.

Now, let’s get right into it!

Why Would I Want Notes in my PowerPoint?

PowerPoint Slides are not meant to be your script. They are meant to enhance your message and help guide the attention of your audience. Generally, you want the audience’s focus to be on you and your spoken word – not your slides.

The temptation for many first starting with PowerPoint is to place all of the information they need to discuss on the slides. The problem with this is that the audience begins to read your slides and lose concentration on the words from your mouth. When the audience reads your slides ahead of you, they often lose their interest fast and their attention is split between your words and what is on the slide.

PowerPoint gives you a simple way to add notes to your slides that your audience never sees. These notes are there to help you so you never have to use your presentation deck as your script. Instead, you the notes section.

So, how do we add notes to PowerPoint?

How to Add Notes to PowerPoint

Microsoft made adding notes to PowerPoint extremely easy. All you have to do is go down to the bottom of the screen where it says “Click to add notes”. Once you click there, you can add in your notes for the presentation.

I recommend that you use this for a point form. For my videos made from converted PowerPoint files, I like to write my full script there. I have also seen marketing, communications and presentation professionals use this space for stage and technical directions too.

What to do if you Don’t See the Notes Section

If you don’t see the notes section, there is a little tab at the bottom of the screen that you can click to make the notes appear.

I want to point out that the you can adjust the separating bars between sections. You can change the size of the notes area by hovering over the line and then clicking, holding and dragging that line to resize the area.

Different Views and Adding Notes

Speaking of different views, you don’t need to write out all your notes on the default slide design page (also known as the “Normal” View). You can also access these notes in the “Outline View” and the “Notes Page” too.

Personally, I like editing my notes in the “Normal View”. Remember that you can resize your notes window by hovering over the bar above it. When you see the two sided arrow, click and drag to resize the window. That will give you ample room to edit your notes while viewing your slides. The “Notes Page” is also a good view for editing your notes.

How Should I Write Up my Notes in PowerPoint?

How you write up your notes for your presentation is completely up to you. My opinion is that the best method is to write out a series of point form notes that remind you of your salient points and to act as a guide to keep you on track. This way, you don’t get off track, cover everything you want and maximize your potential interaction with the audience.

To me, so long as you know the content, this is the best way to present to your audience as it allows flexibility in your delivery to cater to the room. It his harder to adjust to your delivery if your presentation is fully scripted out.

• My opinion – point form notes are the best
• State only your salient points
• Use as a guide to stay on topic and to remember important points
• There are also plenty of reasons to fully type out your presentation script

While I prefer bullet point scripts when I present, your support crews would likely prefer that you stick to a fully written script with stage directions. This helps the show go smoothly for larger events where you have people helping the presenter in the delivery of their message. When the presenter follows a full script completely it helps everyone involved in that delivery stay on track and not miss queues such as when to change the slide, join in the conversation, or adjust an AV setting (like lighting).

As mentioned earlier, you could add stage directions in the PowerPoint notes section for the presenter or tech crew. Let’s talk a little bit about that now.

Use Your Notes for Stage Directions Too

Using the Notes section of PowerPoint, you can add in reminders for yourself (and anyone helping) about stage and technical directions. Perhaps you have an external video that you want queued up or a secondary source shown for a live demo. You can add this there to keep everyone on track. If you have multiple presenters delivering different parts of the presentation to your audience, you can also use the Notes section to direct who will be presenting each part.

[Square Brackets] are a common way to differentiate the spoken script words from the presentation directions. Italics also work well .

Highlights will show up in your handouts “Notes Page”, but they don’t generally show in other modes of PowerPoint. I advise sticking to Square Brackets, Italics or whatever you find already works with you and your support staff.

Again, how you choose to write your script in PowerPoint notes is up to you. As a presenter, I prefer bullet points. When I use PowerPoint to create hobby videos, I like to use a full written script. While supporting presenters as a media technician, I prefer a fully scripted notes section with stage directions.

You will have to find what works best for you. Now, let’s chat about how to actually use the notes section of PowerPoint when it comes to Presenting, Recording and printing Handouts.

How to use PowerPoint Notes – Presenting, Recording and Handouts

Now that we have the notes in our presentation, how do we use them? Microsoft gave us three effective ways to use these notes. You can use them as your speaker notes while you present to an audience, notes while you record a presentation, and as part of a handout for your audience. Let’s go through how to do all three of these uses for PowerPoint notes.

How to Present with Speaker Notes

Just like adding notes, presenting with speaker notes is extremely easy. All you have to do is present in Presenter view with two screens. This second screen could be your home monitor, a TV at the office or a projector at a convention center.

To make sure that your presentation is set up to take advantage of presenter view, go to “Slide Show”. From there, make sure that “Use Presenter View” is selected. When you go to show the presentation, the computer will automatically set up one screen with the presenter’s view and the other with the full screen slides.

You can change which screen the slides show on by changing the “Monitor”. The other will become your Presenter View screen.

A Quick Look at the Presenter View

This is a fantastic tool for both anyone who has to control a PowerPoint presentation in front of a live audience or anyone presenting to a virtual audience too. As a media technician I use this view all the time. It is great for following the scripts of the presenters and also works out great while running webcasts too. The only problem about this view is that you need two monitors to get the option to function.

The screen shot above shows a PowerPoint deck that I turned into a video for a YouTube channel. This is the presentation showing in “Presenter View”. The slide is on the left, the next slide is on the right and under it is my script (or the notes section).

When you go to record your slide deck, you can also still access your notes. Let me demonstrate below.

How to Record with Speaker Notes

To record a presentation, you go to “Slide Show” followed by “Record Slide Show”.

There you will find the notes on a toggle button near the top middle of your screen.

I find this one annoying to use because it is so small, but its location forces you to look almost directly into your laptop’s webcam (as most laptops have it located at the top of the computer screen). If you are recording video with you content in PowerPoint, this is a huge bonus! I can’t think of a better place to put the script other than right under the camera for giving the audience the impression that you are talking to them when you are reading your script.

How to Print Speaker Notes with Slides in PowerPoint

Even though we live in a paperless society, we still need to make printouts and hand outs. You can make them electronically (as PDFs) or physically on paper. One great way to access your notes is through the Notes Page. You can find this by clicking on “View” and then “Notes Page.”

If you have any presenters that want a printed copy of the notes for the podium (or technical or communications staff that also need the notes), I recommend that you print off the slide deck’s “Notes Page”.

To print your notes, select “File” and then “Print”. Here you will find a drop down for the slide layout. It likely says “Full Page Slides” to start. Change this to “Notes Pages”. You will see an image of the printer page further down in the article when I show you how to make fancy handouts with this same view.

Below is how the printout will look by default. Personally I find this layout very straight forward to work with.

“But wait, you mentioned I can turn this view into good looking handouts. How do I do that?”

Creating Impressive Handouts with Notes – Altering the Layout of Handout Notes in PowerPoint

Now let’s look at how to take the notes (or script) of your presentation and turn that into a nice handout to give to your audience.

As a tip, I like to back up my files before I mess around with the layouts, but that is up to you on whether you do that or not.

To print, I went to “File” and then “Print”. On the print screen, I make sure that I choose the “Notes Pages” under the settings.

You can then print these handouts as PDF files or as physical copies.

Creating PowerPoint Handouts with Word

As with all things computers, there are usually multiple ways to doing things. Sometimes, those ways lead to different results but cover the same end goal. Here is another way to do handouts. This time, we utilize Microsoft Word.

You may want to back up your work before you go through with this just to be on the safe side.

As a note, the function to export PowerPoint to Word takes a lot of memory. If you run into problems or see the message “PowerPoint couldn’t write to Microsoft Word,” restart your computer. Then run the Export with all other programs closed. If that still does not work, split the PowerPoint into two separate presentations. One with the first half of the slides and the other with the second half. Export both of those presentations and then combine them in Word.

Relevant Links…

In this post, I made reference a few times to my hobby videos On top of Tech Presenters, I run another website focused on tabletop gaming. That website also has a YouTube channel connected to it. I made all of my early videos on that channel using PowerPoint. Now I use video editors instead, but it is surprising how much you can do with PowerPoint.

If you are interested in video editors, check out my article “ The Best Free Video Editors Out There For the PC” . You can also find more PowerPoint Tips right here on Tech Presenters. One article that I would like to direct your attention to is “ The Hottest PowerPoint HotKeys for Presenters “. Be sure to check that article out for some HotKeys that could help you present better in front of an audience.

Turning back to this article, the PowerPoint files that I screen captured are from the videos listed below. I made them using PowerPoint and even wrote my scripts into the notes section of the program.

• LED Lamp Review for Painting, Building and Photographing Miniatures – Lamp by GameCraft Miniatures
• 28mm WW2 Soviet Train Station Review – MDF Terrain by Things from the Basement soon on Kickstarter
• Monster Scenery Terrain Review – Broken Ground – Pre-painted terrain for miniature gaming and RPGs

On top of these videos, I also have a related Website called Must Contain Minis .

For those wondering, I am using Office 365 on Windows 10.

Now, let’s finish up this article.

Bringing it Together…

In this article, we went over how to add notes to PowerPoint. Not only that, but we went further and also discussed how to use the notes during presentations, for recording and for printing off handouts.

As a presentation support professional, I find coupling my slides with notes extremely handy. As a presenter, these notes help me stay on track and to make sure that I cover all of the important points that I wanted to make. Knowing how to use these notes, and how to get the most out of them, really helps in delivering the best presentations that you can.

Personally I like to keep back up files and older versions of my files in case I run into any problems. In general, I am pretty cautious in my approach and there is not harm in keeping multiple files. Just make sure that you name them well and work on the newest version. I figured I would leave that reminder here. If you are playing around with the layout of your notes page or messing around with what appears on them, it might be a good idea to keep a back up to go to in case things don’t work as intended.

Until next time, Happy Presenting Everyone!!!

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Print your handouts, notes, or slides

Whether you want to print handouts, notes pages, or slides, you’ve come to the right place.

(If you're looking for handout design information, such as how to set up slide layouts and orientation or how to change your headers, footers, or background, see Create or change a presentation’s handout .)

Figure: The "3 Slides" layout for handouts includes lines for taking notes. 

Select a printer

On the File tab, click Print .

Under Printer , click the down arrow and select a printer from the list.

If you don’t see any network printers listed:    You’ll need to add one, as follows:

Windows 10:

Windows 7 or 8:

Open Control Panel. Select Hardware and Sound > Add a printer > Add a network, wireless or bluetooth printer > Next

If you don't have a network or wireless printer to connect to:     You’ll want to make sure your printer is plugged in to your computer. See your printer’s documentation for details.

Select what and how to print

Under Settings , between four and six rectangles with down arrows appear, depending on the kind of printer you selected in the procedure above. These rectangles give you printing options. 

Choose which slides you want to print:  Under Settings , click the first rectangle's down arrow and choose an option:

If you choose Custom Range , then enter the specific slides or range of slides in the Slides box. For example, 1,3,5-12 .

If you have any hidden slides in the presentation, the Print Hidden Slides option is active, and you may select it.

Choose a print layout:  Under Settings , click the second rectangle's down arrow. The thumbnail images you see show a preview of how the pages will look when printed.

To print slide notes, either for a speaker or as handouts for your audience, select Notes Pages under Print Layout . This option prints one slide per page with all your notes below.

Choose how to organize your printed sheets:  Under Settings , select the down arrow next to Collated or Uncollated and then choose your preference.  

Choose a color scheme for your printout:  Under Settings , click the last rectangle's down arrow, and then select an option.

Tips for printing in color, grayscale, or pure black and white:

Under Settings , if your printer is able, two other options will appear—one-sided versus two-sided printing, and stapled versus unstapled sets of printouts. 

The options for stapled and unstapled vary by printer. 

In the Copies box at the top, enter the number of copies you want, and then click Print .

Printed handouts: Add or remove slide numbering

By default, in PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 (beginning with version 1810), printed handouts include a slide number below each slide image.

You can turn this option off for this presentation by going to File  >  Print . Select the drop down arrow next to the handouts layout you've selected and clear the option named Print slide numbers on handouts .

Print Preview

See  Printing and print preview for information about preview features.  

Troubleshooting

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The #1 Method: How to Print PowerPoint with Notes

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How to Print Google Slides with Notes

We show you how to print Google Slides with speaker notes or plain speaker notes without slides to help you presenting or offer them as a handout.

Table of Contents:

When preparing a presentation in Google Slides, it’s often essential to include speaker notes for your reference or for sharing with your audience. These notes provide additional context or cues that can help guide your delivery. Printing Google Slides with notes is a straightforward process, but the options can vary depending on your needs, such as printing multiple slides per page or customizing the layout. This guide will walk you through the different methods to print your Google Slides with speaker notes, ensuring that you can present or share your material effectively.

Why Print Google Slides with Speaker Notes?

Printing Google Slides with speaker notes is particularly useful when you need a physical copy for rehearsing, sharing with collaborators, or presenting in environments where you may not have access to digital devices. The notes can serve as a reminder of key points, reducing the need to look at the screen constantly. Additionally, providing printed notes alongside slides can enhance your audience’s understanding of the material.

Why Print Google Slides without Speaker Notes?

Printing Google Slides with speaker notes is essential for anyone who relies on detailed notes to guide their presentation. These notes can provide additional context, reminders, or cues that are not visible to the audience but are crucial for delivering a smooth and coherent presentation. On the other hand, printing just the speaker notes without the slides can be useful when you need to focus solely on your talking points or share detailed notes with others without clutter.

How to Print Google Slides With Speaker Notes or Speaker Notes Without Slides

When working with Google Slides, including speaker notes in your printed material can be incredibly helpful. Whether you need the full slides with accompanying notes or just the notes by themselves, this guide will walk you through how to achieve both. By following these steps, you can ensure that your printed presentation materials are tailored to your specific needs, whether for rehearsal, sharing with colleagues, or presenting.

FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions About Printing Google Slides Speaker Notes

Can i print multiple slides per page together with the speaker notes.

Unfortunately, Google Slides does not support printing multiple slides with speaker notes on one page directly. To achieve this, you might need to use additional software to manually arrange and print them from a different program after exporting your slides and notes.

Is it feasible to customize the order of slides when printing them with speaker notes?

The print order follows the sequence of slides in your presentation. If you wish to print them in a different order, you should rearrange the slides within Google Slides itself prior to printing. This alteration can be done by simply dragging slides into a new order in the sidebar overview.

How can I print only certain sections of my speaker notes?

To print specific parts of your speaker notes, edit your notes in the slides, leaving only the sections you intend to print. While Google Slides doesn’t support selective printing of notes alone, this manual editing can help focus what gets printed.

What are the best practices for ensuring speaker notes are legible when printed?

Use a plain, clear font such as Arial or Times New Roman at a size of at least 12 points . Preview your notes in the Print Preview to ensure spacing is handled well and the text is not cut off. If notes appear cluttered, consider simplifying the content or increasing the paper size for printing.

Can Google Slides automatically skip printing slides without speaker notes?

Google Slides does not provide an automatic feature to skip slides lacking speaker notes during printing. You must manually select the slides that include notes using the page range option in the print settings.

How do I deal with formatting issues in speaker notes when printing?

Prior to printing, ensure all formatting in your speaker notes is correct by adjusting bullet points, indentations, and text alignment within the notes pane of each slide. If issues persist, consider simplifying the formatting.

Is there a method to print slides and notes separately but in a synchronized order?

Print all slides first without notes by setting up the printing configuration accordingly. Following this, change the layout to only include notes and print again. This ensures both parts remain in order and can be organized easily after printing.

Can I use custom paper sizes for printing slides and notes?

Google Slides supports several standard paper sizes for printing. If you need a custom size, you’ll need to ensure compatibility with your printer settings, where you can specify unusual dimensions.

Is it possible to preview the print layout on different devices or operating systems?

Yes, the Print Preview function in Google Slides works uniformly across different platforms. However, variations in screen display and settings can affect how previews appear, so always double-check on the actual device you intend to use for printing.

How to avoid wasting ink or toner when printing speaker notes?

Opting for black-and-white printing can significantly reduce ink usage, especially if the notes don’t require color. Additionally, select the ‘Draft’ or ‘Economy’ print mode in your printer settings to conserve ink or toner.

What steps should I follow if my printer doesn’t align properly with Google Slides output?

Ensure your printer’s alignment is correctly configured via your device’s printer settings. Sometimes, printer drivers may need an update to function correctly with the latest software versions, including Google Slides.

Can I print speaker notes and slides in dual language if my presentation is bilingual?

To print a bilingual presentation, you must manually include both languages in your speaker notes. Consider formatting them clearly by differentiating each language with distinct fonts or colors to maintain clarity.

How do I convert my printed slide and speaker notes into a digital PDF format?

Instead of printing, select the ‘Save as PDF’ option in the printer dialog box. This generates a PDF file that retains the layout and formatting of your slides and notes, which can then be shared or archived digitally.

Are there accessibility options to help visually impaired users read printed speaker notes?

For enhanced readability, use larger fonts, high contrast colors, and bold text within the notes. Testing the printed output on actual paper and adjusting based on feedback from visually impaired users can help ensure the notes are accessible.

How can watermarking be applied when printing slides and notes for copyright protection?

Direct watermarking support is not available in Google Slides. As a workaround, add a faint background image or text to each slide and in the speaker notes area manually. Ensure this watermark does not compromise the legibility of the content before printing.

Related: How to Embed a Video in Google Slides and Customize Playback

Related: how to add music to google slides, related: how to enable dark mode on google drive, docs, sheets, slides, calendar etc., related : how to add speaker notes in powerpoint.

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